Well, crud....

[kyrielle]

So far, it doesn't sound like I've got great options on controlling the cats. I really can't put a second door where I need this blockade. They are both used to going out doors and sometimes run for it (Babe especially). So far we've managed to not let them out at my parents' house, but we've started dodging through the back porch, which they don't think of as leading "out". When we bring them over here, they'll be shut in one room (probably the master bedroom). But once we release them to the rest of the house, we'll need something between them and the front door so that anyone coming in has a minute to deal with the door before they have to deal with the cats, and anyone going out has the reverse.

Basta can't jump very high (bed height, chair height is just doable), so a tall one would probably solve her. I don't think Babe can either, but she might be able to and just be a general klutz - and I hate to think about her hurting herself, trying.

Actual construction to modify the entryway would, obviously, take far too long. It's also not real feasible in the space there...and oh, I hate to think of the howls if we modified the exterior part!

I suppose we could consistently enter through the garage - if we made sure the door was closed, the worst they could do was get out there - but that will make it hard on visitors, deliverymen, etc., especially as the garage is a trashed mess. Plus, since the garage is a trashed mess, tracking the cats down out there would be hard.

Argh!

Comments

[dormouse-in-tea.livejournal.com]

My da's pretty smart re such things. Can you take photos of the door/entryway/hallway...whatever, where the barricade needs to go, and e-mail 'em to me? I can ask him if he can think of anything simple?

[kyrielle]

Thank you - will try to do tomorrow.

[mandydax.livejournal.com]

It's like an air-lock, but it stops cats from escaping. I'm surprised more houses don't have them as they are trapped-air spaces, so they're much more energy efficient than a single door. The garage is a good make-do for yourselves. When we have a repairman or when the out-door needs to stay open, we shut the hall door or the bedroom/bathroom door, whichever one works. It keeps the cats in and safe and out of the way of the people, and usually it doesn't take too long before they're able to be let back into the rest of the house. Just make sure they have a litterbox at the least.

[kyrielle]

The trick, knowing these cats (Babe in particular) would be getting them into the area you want to close off. A large part of the house (almost the whole downstairs) is wide open, unfortunately.

What's like an air-lock?

[mandydax.livejournal.com]

something between them and the front door so that anyone coming in has a minute to deal with the door before they have to deal with the cats, and anyone going out has the reverse

It's like an air-lock, but instead of keeping all the air in your house from escaping into the vacuum of space, it keeps all the cats in your house from escaping into the wilds of the great northwest. Like if you had a screened in front porch, as long as you knew all the cats were inside the house before you open the porch door to go out, there's no way they'd escape. It gives you a "do-over" if one gets by. =^v^=

[kyrielle]

Ah. Yeah, that's what I'm looking for. I thought you were referring to an actual device, and wanted one. :)

[kayre]

Do they wear collars? Might "electric fence" just across a hallway work, if they do?

Otherwise, the tallest "baby gate" you can find; every time they think about jumping it, yell and squirt them with a squirtgun.

[kyrielle]

They don't. I suppose they could, now (before it was a problem because they were indoor-outdoor, so what-if...), but I'm not sure how they'd handle them since they're not used to them - and I hate to think of a total freakout over that too. And the area I need to block is not where people normally sit, alas. :/ It's just an entryway area. Basta can't jump worth a darn. Babe can't either due to weight, but she's likelier to try.

[kayre]

you don't need to sit and watch, just go rushing out noisily when you hear a cat hit the barrier.

[kyrielle]

Yeah, but. The area we need to block is right by the front door. The most commonly-occupied areas are both upstairs, THE most commonly-occupied one at the far end of the hall from the stairs. The odds are very good that we wouldn't know.

And the most important time for it to work would be when we're not home, so that when we get home, there are no escapes....